Sources said Justice Arun Misra is said to have told the four judges that he was unnecessarily targeted in the controversy and had sincerely discharged his duty as a judge.

The friction between the CJI and the senior Supreme Court judges remained unresolved with both sides not keen on any climbdown on their part. (PTI Photo)

Supreme Court judge Anil Mishra broke down during an informal meeting of all 25 judges on Monday even as a stalemate continued in the country’s highest judiciary after four senior judges accused chief justice Dipak Misra of abuse of power.

The judges had gathered in the judges’ lounge at 10 am for a cup of tea, a daily ritual followed for years in the top court, before they begin work for the day.

It’s then that Justice Mishra expressed his anguish over the way his name was tarnished after the top four judges went public with allegations against the chief justice.

He conveyed his dismay and said that he had been wrongly defamed in the eyes of the public and questions were raised about his competence.

Sources said Justice Arun Misra is said to have told the four judges that he was unnecessarily targeted in the controversy and had sincerely discharged his duty as a judge.

Successive CJIs had allotted important cases to him and he has been “over burdened” with work.

Despite ill-health, Justice Misra has disposed four thousand cases in the past three months, sources said.

As the judge broke down the CJI is said to have taken him away from the meeting.

It is learnt that the four judges too consoled Justice Mishra saying their intention was not to malign his reputation.

In an extraordinary move Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurien Joseph had on January 12 spoken to the media, accusing the CJI of giving preference to certain benches while assigning sensitive matters. The judges also released a letter they wrote to the CJI four months ago on the issue.

On Friday, the matter was listed before him and it appears the four judges had requested the CJI to delete it from Justice Arun Mishra’s roster since it was a sensitive case and required a hearing by a five-judge bench.

Loya had died under mysterious circumstances while he was dealing with a criminal case pertaining to the fake Sheik Sohrabuddin fake encounter case in which senior Gujarat police officers and BJP president Amit Shah are named. Shah was subsequently discharged in the case.

Although the judges did not mention Justice Arun Mishra in their address, they did admit the Loya’s case was a concern they raised with the CJI.

The friction between the CJI and the senior judges remained unresolved with both sides not keen on any climbdown on their part.

Sources said the CJI was not in favour of calling a full court meeting to defuse the crisis since he believed that he had done nothing wrong on the administrative side.